1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle running control method and a vehicle running control apparatus for avoiding that a vehicle collides with an obstacle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3197307, a vehicle running control apparatus has been known, which selects and executes collision avoidance control from collision avoidance control by steering control, collision avoidance control by speed control, and collision avoidance control by using both controls, according to a running condition of a vehicle and a driver's operating condition. According to such a running control apparatus, it can be avoided that the vehicle collides with an obstacle by the collision avoidance control according to the running condition of the vehicle and the driver's operating condition.
The running control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3197307 has a configuration in which control is interposed in vehicle operation, which is not performed by the driver, such that when the driver does not perform a steering operation, collision avoidance control is performed by steering control; when the driver does not perform a braking operation, collision avoidance control is performed by speed control; and when the driver does not perform the steering operation and the braking operation, collision avoidance control is performed by the steering control and the speed control. Therefore, according to the running control apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3197307, when the collision avoidance control is different from the driver's operation intention, the vehicle operation to be performed by the driver is disturbed by the collision avoidance control, and hence, the driver may feel discomfort with respect to the collision avoidance control.
The present invention has been achieved in order to solve the above problems. It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle running control method and a vehicle running control apparatus that can prevent the driver from feeling discomfort with respect to the collision avoidance control by performing the collision avoidance control without disturbing the driver's vehicle operation as much as possible.